Publications

Solo-Authored Book

Meritocratic Democracy: A Cross-Cultural Political Theory

Meritocratic Democracy: A Cross-Cultural Political Theory, forthcoming from Oxford University Press (expected 2024), focuses on the increasing role of political leaders in democratic politics, the crisis of political parties, and the value of ‘morally good’ political leaders for democratic politics. It engages with these questions through a cross-cultural approach that puts in dialogue ideas and theories from contemporary debates in Confucian and Western political theory. While political leaders are a central topic of discussion in Confucian political theory, they remain under-examined in contemporary Western democratic theory. Likewise, there is virtually no discussion in Confucian democratic theory on the role of political parties in democratic systems. The outcome is an original cross-cultural democratic theory, meritocratic democracy, that blends democratic ideals with a structure of “partisan juries” within political parties, aimed at elevating the calibre of political leaders within a democratic framework.

The book’s cross-cultural perspective fosters a new approach to normative studies of democratic representation that is more attuned to the global nature of the phenomenon of democracy, while bringing debates on political leaders and political parties forward in Western and Confucian democratic theory.

Edited Books

van de Poel I., Frank L., Hermann J., Hopster J., Lenzi D., Nyholm S., Taebi B., Ziliotti E. 2023. Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies: An Introduction. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. Preview available at: https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0366                 

Journal articles

• Ziliotti E. 2024. “Breaking the Mold: Normative Hybridity as the Key to Contemporary “Non-Western” Political Theorizing'” American Political Science Review (Online publication)1-14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055424000194
• Ziliotti E. 2024. “Social Cohesion, Meritocracy, and The Future of East Asia: A Confucian-inspired Perspective,” Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture 41: 85-109. DOI: 10.22916/jcpc.2024..41.85
• Ziliotti E. 2024. “Social Meritocracy and Unjust Social Hierarchies: Three Proposals to Limit Meritocracy’s Erosion of Social Cooperation,” Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-024-00400-9
• Ziliotti E. 2023. “An Epistemic Case for Confucian Democracy,” Critical International Review of Social and Political Philosophy 26(7): 1005-1027. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2020.1838736

• Ziliotti E. 2022. “Questions for Hierarchical Confucianism,” The Review of Politics 84(3) 2022: 329–349. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034670522000304

• Dennis M., Ziliotti E. 2022. “Living Well Together Online: Digital Well-Being from a Confucian Perspective,” Journal of Applied Philosophy 40(2): 263-279. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/japp.12627

• Sta. Maria J., Ziliotti E. 2022. “Addressing Online Gaming Toxicity from a Confucian Perspective,” Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture 38: 131−152. DOI:  https://doi.org/10.22916/jcpc.2022..38.131

• Ziliotti E. 2020. “Political Meritocracy and the Troubles of Western Democracies,” Philosophy and Social Criticism 46(9): 1127–45. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0191453720948377

• Ziliotti E. 2020. “Democracy’s Value: A Conceptual Map,” Journal of Value Inquiry 54: 407–27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10790-019-09717-1

• Ziliotti E. 2017. “The Moral Basis of Political Meritocracy,” Philosophy and Public Issues 7(1): 246–70

• Ziliotti E. 2017. “From Democratic Meritocracy to Meritocratic Democracy: Why Political Meritocracy Matters,” Philosophy and Public Issues 7(1): 73−87

Book chapters

• Ziliotti E., Reyes P., Gwagwa A., Dennis M. 2023. “Social Media and Democracy”, in Van de Poel et al. (eds.) Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies: An Introduction,  Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. With Reyes P., Gwagwa A., Dennis M

• Van de Poel I., Hopster J., Löhr G., Ziliotti E., Buijsman S., Brey P. 2023. “Introduction”, in Van de Poel et al. (eds.) Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies: An Introduction,  Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. With Van de Poel I., Hopster J., Löhr G., Buijsman S., Brey P

• Ziliotti E. 2022. “What Does the COVID-19 Pandemic Teach Us about Democracy? Relational Democracy and Digital Surveillance,” in Matthew Dennis et al. (eds.), Values for a Post-Pandemic Future: Ethics, Technology, and the ‘New Normal’ (Netherlands: Springer). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08424-9_3

• Ziliotti E. 2018. “Public Deliberation in a Globalized World? The Case of Confucian Customs and Traditions,” in Michael Reder (eds.), The Yearbook Practical Philosophy in a Global Perspective (Freiburg: Karl Albert Publishing): 339−61

Book reviews

• Ziliotti E. 2021. “Review of Daniel A. Bell and Wang Pei’s Just Hierarchy: Why Social Hierarchies matter for China and the rest of the World,” Res Publica 27: 515–520. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-020-09493-x

• Ziliotti E. 2017. “Review of Daniel A. Bell’s The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy,” Philosophy East and West 67(2): 295−98. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/pew.2017.0025